This invention relates to tube or pipe clamps.
Tube clamps are used extensively in industry to fixedly attached two adjacent tubes end to end in a flanged ferrule tube connection. The ferrules have angled (conical) surfaces. A tube clamp captures the ferrules and contacts them on the conical faces. By clamping the clamp diametrically, the contact on the angled surfaces causes a linear force component to squeeze the ferrules together in a direction that squeezes a gasket disposed between them.
Industry has various problems with this type of clamp, including loosening of the wing nuts, causing them to sometimes swing open.
Participants in the industry and industry standards-creating bodies have attempted to solve this problem by introduction of standard component configurations and new products. Products include metal-to-metal ferrules with fixed gasket space, various durometer gaskets, hard gaskets, gasket appendages to achieve fixed ferrule-to-ferrule distance, torque-limiting nuts and live load nuts.